Today our primary trainees marked World Book Day with a celebration at the CTTC training centre.
Trainees dressed in a fantastic range of book-inspired costumes, bringing much-loved characters and stories to life and adding a real sense of fun to the training day.
World Book Day is always a special moment in schools, and it was wonderful to see our trainees embracing the occasion together as part of their training year. As future primary teachers, nurturing pupils’ curiosity, imagination and enjoyment of reading will be a central part of their work.
Thank you to everyone who joined in and made the day such a success.
An article written by Christine Wager, Consortium Director, has been published on the National Association of School-Based Teacher Trainers (NASBTT) website.
In the piece, Christine reflects on the experience of welcoming CTTC’s largest ever cohort of trainees and the important considerations this brings for Initial Teacher Training providers. The article explores how successful recruitment must always be balanced with the capacity to provide high-quality mentoring, strong school partnerships and meaningful support for every trainee.
The article highlights CTTC’s ongoing commitment to ensuring that trainees are known as individuals and supported to thrive throughout their training year.
We are aware that some individuals planning to begin teacher training in September 2026 may recently have received unexpected news from another local provider. Colchester Teacher Training Consortium (CTTC) is available to offer advice and support to applicants in this situation and can talk you through the options available and possible next steps.
CTTC is a long-established school-centred provider working in partnership with schools across Essex and Suffolk. Our priority is to ensure applicants have clear information and appropriate guidance so they can continue their plans to enter teaching with confidence.
If you would like to discuss your circumstances, please contact us and a member of our team will be very happy to help.
Today we were delighted to welcome Primary trainees, mentors and Lead Mentors to CTTC for a full day of training focused on supporting the emotional wellbeing of younger pupils.
The session was led by Jo Morton-Brown, a senior accredited member of the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP), who brings nearly 15 years’ experience working directly with children, young people and their families.
Throughout the day, participants explored how emotional needs can present in the primary classroom, including anxiety, self-esteem, emotional regulation and the early signs of mental health difficulties. Jo shared practical strategies to help trainees and mentors recognise what pupils’ behaviour may be communicating and how to respond with empathy while maintaining clear, supportive boundaries.
Drawing on real-life experiences, the training focused on building teacher confidence – not to turn teachers into therapists, but to help them feel prepared, calm and professionally equipped when pupils are struggling. Discussions also emphasised the importance of nurturing classroom environments and the role schools play in helping children feel safe, understood and ready to learn.
The day included collaborative discussions, reflection activities and practical approaches that can be applied immediately in classrooms. It was particularly valuable to bring trainees and mentors together, strengthening a shared understanding of how to support pupils’ wellbeing across our partnership schools.
We are grateful to Jo for sharing her expertise and to all who attended and contributed so thoughtfully to the discussions.
At CTTC, developing confident teachers means supporting the whole child – and training such as this helps ensure our trainees are equipped not only to teach well, but to care well too.
